Over the past few weeks, several homeowners in Peterhouse Close have complained to community support officers about high levels of noise and disturbance.

To get an idea of the problem police held a street briefing on the housing estate's recreation area with residents and parish councillors.
The majority of those attending claimed most of the noise was created by youths drinking and drug taking.

In a effort to clamp down on the problem, officers and residents are to establish a new watch group.

Sgt Peter Ferrie, of Mildenhall Safer Neighbourhoods Team, said: "I know that the PSCO officers would like to set up a residents' watch group to help tackle the on- going problem.

"This would mean working closely with residents and Forest Heath to help root out the problem."

Since the briefing, officers have carried out a number of stop searches on known drug users along with seizing alcohol from a number of youths.

Sgt Ferrie added: "Although no drugs were found in the stop searches, we will continue to carry them out."

Last month police identified youth drinking as the main cause of anti-social behaviour in the town. In an attempt to crack down on the problem, police in Mildenhall launched two new initiatives, a test purchase scheme and on-the-spot alcohol testers.

Sgt Ferrie added: "The schemes are progressing really well. It is going better than last year due to the fact that we are working much closer with shops in the town."

A full review of how successful the programmes have been will be made at the end of the summer.